By Dale Lezon |
March 14, 2013
| Updated: March 14, 2013 12:06pm

Smoke alarms helped save residents as a 2-alarm fire ripped through their homes just west of downtown early Thursday morning, officials said.

The fire broke out about 3:30 a.m. in the 600 block of Saulnier near Stanford, according to the Houston Fire Department.

Officials said the blaze began in one home and then spread to another next door.

Three people in one of the houses were alerted when their smoke detector went off and escaped the flames. A smoke detector also alerted a resident in the other home, and he also escaped unharmed.

Officials said a woman who was rushing out of one of the homes touched a door that was hot and burned her arm.

Investigators were trying to determine what sparked the blaze.

Officials said smoke detectors can help people survive fires. A fire doubles in size every 30 seconds and a blaring smoke alarm can give people the few extra seconds they need to get out of a burning home or other building, officials said.

However, officials added, more than 30 percent of the residential fires HFD responds to have no working smoke detectors. Often bad batteries account for a failed smoke alarm.

People who need smoke alarms or know someone else in the City of Houston who needs them are urged call the HFD Public Affairs Division at (832) 394-6633.

HFD also can help deaf or hard-of-hearing people to register for free visual fire alarms. Citizens may apply for them by calling (713) 284-1990 or emailing mopdmail@houstontx.gov.